Interesting info on this topic from a magazine that I have, "Musician" dated August 1980. Paul was talking about breaking out the Hofner for the first time in YEARS when he did the Coming Up video (it still had the set list from the last Beatles concert.)....anyway---the following is an edited part of the interview (by Vic Garbarini) concerning the Hof vs the Rick.

MUSICIAN: Did you feel like you were stepping back into that old image for a minute?

MACCA: Yes. I felt great. The bass was the same weight--the whole thing about a Hofner bass is that it's like balsa wood. It's so comfortable after a Fender or a Rickenbacker. I now play a Rick or a Yamaha, which are quite heavy.

MUSICIAN: Why did you switch?

MACCA: It was given to me. Back in the mid 60s, Mr Rickenbacker gave me a special left-handed bass. It was the first lefty I'd ever had. Coz the Hof was a converted right-hand. It was a freebie and I loved it; I started getting into it on Sgt Pepper. And now I'm playing a Yamaha.

MUSICIAN:How come?

MACCA:Because they gave me one---I'm anybody's for a free guitar!! Sometimes I think I should research which I like to play best. But generally, I seem to play stuff that's given to me. Naturally, I only play the stuff I like. I dont like for things to be too thought out or logical. If someone asks me what strings I used I honestly couldn't tell you--they come out of a little bag. To me, these things are just vehicles. They are beautiful and I love them, but I don't want to find out too much about them. It's just the way my mind is; I'd prefer to be non-technical.

Yes, that is super, Steve. I love interviews, live or print. I read old ones again too. It's all in boxes and boxes in the closet. I'll get a mag with an interview and clip it out, date it and put it in a box.

Yeah--it's funny some of the stuff he says. There is so much out there. This is 1980, and he said he'd NEVER do classical, as he'd fall asleep after the first bar. We're lucky to have so many sources of his recollections, then current thoughts and future dreams on paper.

quote:Originally posted by stevew628Yeah--it's funny some of the stuff he says. There is so much out there. This is 1980, and he said he'd NEVER do classical, as he'd fall asleep after the first bar. We're lucky to have so many sources of his recollections, then current thoughts and future dreams on paper.

Sir Paul McCartney spent £45,000 having his trademark Beatles guitar retuned-so it can be insured for £2 million! Macca paid £36 for the Hoffner violin bass in 1961 and still uses it. However it has always been out of tune-the E string is at fault when a G note is played. He likes this quirk, but insurers recently insisted that it had to be correctly tuned before they would issue the £2 million cover certificate. So Sir Paul, 55, instructed his personal assistant John Hammel to take it to rare instrument specialists Mandolin Brothers in New York-on a specially chartered jet. Hiring the plane cost £45,000-a fortune to most rock stars but barely a handful of notes to multi-millionaire Macca. An insider tells me: "Money was no object. Paul values this guitar with his life, it's almost like a lucky charm to him. "It is probably one of the world's most recognised and most valuable instruments."

The Hoffner was taken to Mandolin Brothers, who usually handle ultra-rare Stradivarius violins, in a purpose-built Samsonite case-which I am told a tank would find hard to flatten. A condition of the policy is that Sir Paul always uses the case now. Until recently he had been using the battered original holder!

He bought the left-handed Violin Bass 500-1 for £36, a huge sum for a guitar in 1961, before The Beatles' first hit. He used it at all their gigs and studio sessions. To add to the guitar's value, his old set list from The Beatles' last concert, staged at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, in August 1966, is still taped to the back of it!